Video data may be compressed using the MPEG-2 standard before being sent from one location to another. During this compression, the elementary stream data is compressed and formatted into a hierarchy of sub-records and record types, called packets. That is, the lowest level of stream data is first formatted into a PES or PSI packet, which is further formatted into a TS packet, which is further combined into an AAL-5 PDU packet, which is part of an ATM cell packet. Thus, display of this type of data requires a hierarchial display of each of these packets in order to interpret the display of the data.
Because of the complexity of the MPEG-2 data, prior art systems capture data in real time and store the data, however, they only format and display the data after it has been captured and stored. Thus, the offline formatting and display of the data can reduce the complexity of the data. This creates a problem, however, because of the data display occurring later than the data being transmitted. The main reason for the offline display is that the complexity and speed of the data prevents the formatting and real time display of such complex data. Typically, the offline data display contains all the data in the record, and a user scrolls through this display much like scrolling through a word processing document.
Another reason MPEG-2 data has not been displayed in real time is that some packets of the data may be sent before other packets, wherein the later sent packets identify the type of data sent in the earlier packets, and thus identify the location within the hierarchy of the earlier packets. This presents a problem in that a real time display cannot place the packets in their correct location within a display hierarchy until their location is identified by a later packet. Thus the packets must be stored, or processed in some other manner, until a packet identifying their location is received. This is difficult to do in real time.
There is need in the art then for a system and method of displaying the hierarchial MPEG-2 data in real time. There is further need in the art for such a system and method that formats only selected data for display without formatting an entire packet, thus simplifying the display. A still further need is for such a system and method that displays packets even if the location of the packet in the hierarchy is unknown until a later packet is received. The present invention meets these and other needs in the art.